Game



S. MANEA Feb. 18, 1964 GAME 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 19, 1961 R 0 T NE V N S. MANEA Feb. 18, 1964 GAME 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 19, 1961INVENTOR United States Patent 3,121,566 GAME Sebastian Manes, tlanadianResearch 2: Development Eating-anion, 1 34 Queen St. W., Toronto,Gntario 3,

ana a Filed Jan. 1?, 1951, Ser. No. 83,8112 2 Claims. (Cl. 273-131) Thisinvention relates to improvements in indoor games, and more particularlyto improvements in childrens games of the checkers variety.

it is conventional practice for children and the like to attempt to playchess or checkers at an early age and Without a full comprehension ofeither the rules of the games or the various moves which may be made byutilizing different players.

These games have the disadvantages that they are somewhat complicated,especially for younger children, there are a great number of parts to bedealt with, the more intricate moves are difficult to remember, and,furthermore, especially in checkers, it is possible to cheat.

It is an object of this invention to provide an indoor game which willbe much simpler than chess or checkers and Within the ability of evenyoung children.

It is another object of this invention to provide an indoor game whereinat least one set of moves is limited and substantially predetermined.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide an indoor gamewhich will substantially eliminate the element of cheating.

it is a further object of this invention to provide an indoor game thatwill be easily understood by young people.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an indoor game thatwill take only a short time to play and therefore be suitable for youngchildren whose ability to concentrate for long periods is not yetdeveloped,

It is another object of this invention to provide an indoor game whichmay be played with only a few pieces.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide an indoor gamewhich may be played on a small board, the principal portion of which ispermanently attached to the board and other pieces may take convenientforms such as, for instance, pennies, buttons or the like.

These and other objects and features of the invention 'Will becomeapparent when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the invention, showing the board, thecen e block, and the pieces laid out in preparation for a game to beplayed thereon.

FIG. 2 is a fractional perspective view of the centre block asillustrated in FIG. 1, showing particularly the method by which thecentre block is hingeably attached to the board.

FIG. 3 is a fractional, perspective view of the board as illustrated inFIG. 1, illustrating one move of the centre block about its hingedportion.

FIG. 4 is a fractional, perspective view of the board as illustrated inFIG. 1, showing a second move which may be made by centre block.

FIG. 5 is a fractional, sectional View of the board as illustrated inFIG. 1, showing a third move of the block to be permitted by the hingesystem as illustrated in FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is another fractional, cross section view of the board asillustrated in PEG. 1, illustrating a fourth position which may beadopted by the centre block while still remaining hingeably attached tothe board.

FIG. 7 is a fractional, perspective view of a board as illustrated inFIG. 1, showing the centre block having been moved to yet anotherlocation upon the board.

Referring to FIG. 1, a substantially square game board 11) having foursides 11, 12, 13 and 14, has its upper surface 15 divided into an oddnumber of equal size squares 16 by a plurality of parallel, equallyspaced apart lines 17 running parallel with sides 12 and 14 of board 10,and a like number of lines 18 in equal, parallel, spaced apartrelationship, running at right angles thereto and parallel with oppositesides 11 and 13 on board 10.

In this instance, board 10 is divided into 25 squares 16. One square 19of squares 16 is centrally located on board 10.

A block 26 of substantially cubic configuration, each side of which issubstantially equal to a square 16, is hingeably located upon centresquare 19 by means of a two-Way, double acting hinge 21.

For the purposes of this specification, movement of block 20 towardsside 11 or 13 of board 10 will be known as longitudinal movement, andmovement of block 2% towards side 12 or 14 of board 10 will be known astransverse movement.

Referring to FIG. 2, hinge 2:1 as illustrated in FIG. 1 comprises aplurality of hingeably interconnected, substantially square, fiat plates22, each substantially the same size as a square 16, and a plurality ofrestraining strips 23-. Restraining strips 23 are adapted to preventhinge 21 from opening in concertina fashion as herein illustrated, andare therefore shown in a broken condition. It should be noted that thisattitude of hinge 21 is herein illustrated for clarity of explanationonly, and, upon being fully assembled, plates 22 and block 20 may movehingeably, arcuately only.

Hinge 21 comprises two distinct portions, a base portion 2 1, which isadapted to permit longitudinal movement only and an upper portion 25,adapted to permit transverse movement only of block 20.

A base plate 26 of base portion 24 is firmly affixed to board 111 and isadapted to completely cover centre square 19. A hinge plate 27 ishingeably attached to one side of base plate 26 and is adapted to movearcuately from a face to face position upon base plate 26 to a positionsubstantially at right angles thereto in the direction of side 11 ofboard 1%. A centre plate 23 is hingeably attached to plate 27 at theopposite edge to base plate 26. Plate 23 is adapted to lie flatly, inface to face relationship, with plate 27 and to move arcuately upwardlyto a position substantially at right angles to plate 27 in alongitudinal plane towards side 13 of board 10.

Two oppositely located restrainer strips 29 and 30 are hingeablyattached at their lower ends to the opposite edge of base plate 25 tohinge plate 27 and are hingeably attached at their upper ends to theopposite edge of centre plate 28 to hinge plate 2 7.

It may be seen therefore, that, upon being fully assembled, the hingeportion between restrainers 29 and 30 and centre plate 28 is in axialalignment with the hinge portion between base plate 26 and hinge plate27, and, the hinge portions between restrainer strips 29 and 31) andbase plate 26 are in axial alignment with the hinge portion betweenhinge plate 27 and centre plate 28.

Thus, it may be seen, that upon moving hinge plate 2 7 to an uprightposition, centre plate 28 is retained in face to face relationship withplate 27 by means of restrainer strips 29 and 30 and, upon moving centreplate 28 to an upright position, hinge plate 27 remains .in face to facerelationship with base plate 26.

Upper portion 25 is similarly constructed to base portion 24, centreplate 28 of base portion 24 acting as the base plate for upper portion25. A hinge plate 31 is adapted to lie flatly upon the upper surface ofcentre plate 28 and to be hingeably attached thereto so that it may bemoved arcuately upwardly therefrom in a transverse direction towardsside 14 of board 10. An upper plate 32 is permanently atfixed to theunder side of block 20 and is hingeably afiixed to hinge plate 31 at theopposite edge to plate 28. Two restrainer strips 33 and 34 areoppositely, hingeably attached to plates 28 and 32 in a manner similarto restrainer strips 29 and 30 of base portion 24, and are adapted topermit arcuate movement only of binge plate 31 and upper plate 32, inface to face relationship, transversely towards side 14 of board 10, andupper plate 3-2 transversely towards side 12 of board 10.

FIGS. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 illustrate the manner by which the constructionof hinge 21 may be utilized to control the movements of block 211 uponthe upper surface of board 10.

It should be noted that plates 26, 27, 28, 31 and 32 comprise theplurality of plates 22 and restrainer strips 29, 30, 3 3 and 34 comprisethe plurality of restraining strips 23 herein previously described.

To facilitate the explanation of the operation of block 20, the eightsquares 16 which are contiguous to centre square 19 are numbered from 41 to 47 inclusive, squares 40, 42, 44 and 46 being those located betweencentre square 19 and sides 11, 12, 13 and 14 respectively in which thewhole length of the one side is contiguous thereto, the remainingsquares 41, 43, 45 and 47 being located diagonally of centre square 19and located between squares 40 and 42, 42 and 44, 44 and 46, and 46 and'40 respectively.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, it is seen that from a central position asillustrated in FIG. 1, hinge 2 1 has been operated so that block 20 maymove transversely onto square 42 causing plate 32 to move arcuatelyupwardly at right angles to plate 31.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 4, from the position as illustrated in FIG. 3,block 2t) may be moved arcuately, longitudinally, about one edge through90 to cover square 41 on board 10. Hinge plate 31, centre plate 28, andbinge plate 27 remain in face to face contact, upper plate 32 and hingeplate 31 remain disposed at right angles to each other and hinge plate27 has been moved arcuately upwardly from base plate 26.

Any arcuate transverse movement of block 20 in a vertical plane isprevented by the fact that the hinges between plates 27 and 28, and 31and 32 are now located vertically above board 10.

Although not illustrated, it may be seen that from a position asillustrated in FIG. 3, block 20 may be rotated about one edge to coversquare 43, hinge plate 27 remaining in face to face contact with baseplate 26.

Referring to FIG. 5, block 20 and hinge 21, from a position asillustrated in FIG. 1, have been operated so that block 20 has movedarcuately through 90 in a longitudinal direction to cover square 40. Inthis instance, hinge plate 27, centre plate 28, hinge plate 31 and upperplate 32 remain in face to face contact, their interconnecting hingesare vertically above board 11) and therefore, transverse movement ofblock 20 is fully restricted, block 20 being unable to move arcuately tocover either square 41 on the one side or square 47' on the oppositeside.

Referring to FIG. 6, from the centre position as illustrated in FIG. 1,block 20 has been moved arcuately, transversely onto square 46, hingeplate 31 and upper plate 32 are retained in face to face relationship bymeans of restraining strips 33 and 34, and base portion 24 of hinge 21is in the fully folded position.

Referring to FIG. 7, from the position as illustrated in FIG. 6, hingeplate 2.7 has been moved arcuately upwardly, longitudinally and,therefore block 20 has been tilted 90 about one edge to cover square 47.

Although not illustrated, it may also be seen that from a position asillustrated in FIG. 6, block 20 may also be rotated about one edge tocover square 45.

From the foregoing description it may be seen that the movement of block21} is restricted to the centre square 19 and its adjoining 8 squares4tl4'7 inclusive, and, upon moving block 21} longitudinally to eithersquare or square 44, the hinge mechanism 21 is such that block 20 maynot be moved transversely from either of these positions. In order torest on squares 41, 43, and 47, block 21} must first be movedtransversely to square 42 or square 46 and then moved longitudinallyonto the respective, contiguous squares. Furthermore, from the fourcorner squares 41, 43, 45 and 47, block 211 may not be movedtransversely onto squares 40 0e44, but must first be returned to centresquare 19.

This action of block 21) may be utilized in the form of a game in whicha plurality of playing pieces as shown in F163. 1 and 3 to 7 inclusivemay be arranged on board 21 and moved from square to square in an attempt to avoid block 2i). Another player may manipulate block 20 in anattempt to move it onto a square 411 to 47 inclusive upon which a piece50 may have landed. The operator of block 20 may count a point for eachpiece 50 so eliminated from board 119, and the operator of pieces 50 maycount a point for each piece 50 moved onto centre square 19 withouthaving been intercepted by block 21 Many other combinations and methodsof scoring may be devised utilizing block 219 and playing pieces 50, andmay be varied according to the intellectual standard of the personsplaying.

It will be seen that block 21), hinge 21 and board 10 are integral and,therefore, will not become separated, in say, a toy box, and pieces 50need take no special form, a plurality of pennies or the like beingutilized if necessary.

The general design of the individual parts of this invention asexplained above may be varied according to requirements in regards tomanufacture. and production thereof, while still remaining within thespirit and principle of the invention, without prejudicing the noveltythereof.

, The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A game comprising a board member, the top surface of said board beingruled with a plurality of lines thereby forming a plurality ofsubstantially square sections, a plurality of markers, and a movablefor-m equal in size to said sections and secured by hinge means to thetop surface of said board co-extensive with one margin of a squaresection pivoted selectively about several of its edges, said hinge meanscomprising a pair of double acting hinges, said pair of double actinghinges operable at right angles to each other.

2. A game comprising a board member, the top surface of said board beingruled with a plurality of lines thereby forming a plurality ofsubstantially square sections, a plurality of markers, and a movableform secured by hinge means to the top surface of said board, said hingemeans comprising a pair of double acting hinges, said pair of doubleacting hinges operable at right angles to each other, each one of saidpair of hinges comprising a plurality of flat strips, an upper and alower base member, the ends of said plurality of strips being secured tosaid base members in an alternate pattern.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,162,876 Barton June 20, 1939 2,221,267 Robertson Nov. 12, 19402,395,174 Drueke Feb. 19, 1946

1. A GAME COMPRISING A BOARD MEMBER, THE TOP SURFACE OF SAID BOARD BEINGRULED WITH A PLURALITY OF LINES THEREBY FORMING A PLURALITY OFSUBSTANTIALLY SQUARE SECTIONS, A PLURALITY OF MARKERS, AND A MOVABLEFORM EQUAL IN SIZE TO SAID SECTIONS AND SECURED BY HINGE MEANS TO THETOP SURFACE OF SAID BOARD CO-EXTENSIVE WITH ONE MARGIN OF A SQUARESECTION PIVOTED SELECTIVELY ABOUT SEVERAL OF ITS EDGES, SAID HINGE MEANSCOMPRISING A PAIR OF DOUBLE ACTING HINGES, SAID PAIR OF DOUBLE ACTINGHINGES OPERABLE AT RIGHT ANGLES TO EACH OTHER.